International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 5, No. 3; March 2015 Internal Migration and its Effects in one of the Underdeveloped Regions of Turkey (The Sample of Adiyaman) Dr. Gazanfer Kaya Department of Sociology Dokuz Eylül University Tinaztepe Yerleskesi, Buca 35260 Izmir, Turkey Abstract Migration is an international phenomenon having social and historical dimensions. The near and far social history of Turkey witnesses lots of migrations. Adiyaman, located in the underdeveloped region of Southeastern Anatolia, has undergone a dynamic internal migration in the last 30 years. This article is a field research focusing on the causes and effects of the internal migration in Adiyaman. As a part of the research, 300 migrants out of 6 neighborhoods of the city centre of Adiyaman were interviewed. Thus, the process of the internal migration in Adiyaman is analysed in the light of the findings obtained from the interviewees. Keywords: Migration, Internal Migration, Turkey, Underdevelopment, Adiyaman 1. Introduction The phenomenon of migration, having an important place throughout human history, differs both as reagards causes of emergence and its effects, and also its types. As a type of migration, the internal migration is possible to take place in almost every society. The internal migration can take place as a result of changes in the structure of society as well as being the cause of some changes by itself. Turkey has undergone an internal migration period which began to take shape especially in 1950s and obtained a dynamic character in the following decades. The main cause of this migration is the changes occured in the rural areas. Especially the replacement of closed and for-the-livelihood type of production available by pirimitive technology by the type of production based on market economy and carried out by modern technological means forced the landless peasants or the ones having little land to migrate. This period of internal migration mostly caused by push factors created a time period of rapid and irregular urbanization. Located at an underdeveloped region in Turkey, the city centre of Adiyaman received an intensive migration from the rural areas after 1980. This study in which the causes and effects of the migration dynamics are explored is composed of several parts. In the study the phenomenon of migration and conceptual approaches to internal migration are firstly handled. Afterwards the internal migrations in Turkey and the historical/social dimensions of the internal migration movement in Adiyaman are examined in the light of related literature. The findings and analysis of them, too, take an important place in this research. Lastly the results obtained out of this study are presented. 2. The Phenomenon of Migration Migration, in the most general sense, can be described as the relocation and mobility of people across an area. This phenomenon is as old as human history. Similarly, Joseph Fichter points out that history is full of people’s migrations (2004: 181). Occured in almost every society, the phenomenon of migration has always drawn attention of scholars. In the centre of this attention lie the factors causing relocation across the area and outcomes of the migration. According to the Turkish Language Association: Migration is individuals’ or communities’ moving from one country to another or from one settlement to another due to economic, social and political reasons; emigration (TDK, 1998: 863). In Meydan Larousse Encyclopaedia migration is defined as relocation of individuals under the influence of economic, political and social reasons (1971: 251). 71 ISSN 2220-8488 (Print), 2221-0989 (Online) ©Center for Promoting Ideas, USA www.ijhssnet.com Regarding the the phenomenon of migration, playing an important part in people’s and societies’ life with many dimensions such as sociological, anthropological, economic, historical and socio-psychological ones, a lot of definitions and conceptualisations have been done. As a matter of fact, Gordan Marshall states that migration includes the permanent movement of individuals or groups beyond symbolic and political boundaries towards new settlement areas and societies (1999: 685). According to Ozankaya, migration is heading of individuals or social groups from one place to another in order to setle (1995: 52). With a similar approach, Keleş defines migration as the movement activity from a settlement to another, from a country to another usually in order to settle (1998: 58). According to Yalçin, migration is a geographical, social and cultural relocation movement from one place to another, caused by economic, political, ecological and individual motives, which includes the aim of returning in short-, mid- and long-term or permanent settlement (2004: 13). Migration designates changing an administrative border and real place of residence forever or for long. This change can take place intercontinentally, interregionally, from rural areas to the city or vice verse (Tümertekin ve Özgüç, 2012: 289). From sociological perspective, migration can be defined as a sum of processes in which people or groups’ relocation in place and time turns it into action and which has itsown affects later on (Çakır, 2011: 131). Having an integrality with its previous and following dimensions, the migration process is closely related with social change. Migration can be evaluated both as a dependent variable affected by social change and an independent variable affecting social change. Each migration and wave of migration is distinct and unique both in terms of its nature and the way it occurs and is felt. Each migration needs to be understood in its own circumstances and integrality. While defining the phenomenon of migration, the points to be first looked into are population (migrants or potential migrants), geography (source or target place, region, country) and movement (migration miovement) (Çağlayan, 2011: 87). According to Jackson, migration manages to change place of residence and many other factors based on a physical movement. Jackson also puts an emphasis on social dimension of migration adding that besides physical movement, the migration takes place from one society to another (1986: 2). Similarly, Faist, too, considers migration as a transfer from a location to another and from a social or political unit to another (2003: 41). Migration is a colllective activity caused by social change and it affects both society receiving migration and the one causing emigration (Castles ve Miller, 2008: 29). The phenomenon of migration is one of the most significant indications of social change, especially in modern times (Jansen, 1970: 3). The changes occured in traditional social structure and relations of production created the phenomenon of migration from rural areas to the city. Industrial Revolution and the accompanying process of urbanization have especially been decisive in terms of direction and dynamics of the phenomenon of migration. The economic dimension of the phenomenon of migration needs to be particularly emphasized. In parallel with social change, the decrease in need for workforce leads some population of rural areas to cities so as to find new areas of employment (İçduygu ve Diğerleri, 1998a: 216). The feature qualifying population movements in modern world dominated by capitalist economy is relocation of workforce. Therefore, considering migration only as a matter of population movement can cause ignorance of the various economic roles the migrants play (Doğan, 2002: 22). While exploring the phenomenon of migration, sociologists especially choose relation between migration and society as a focal point of their analysis. Which social phenomena or factors have been affective on the phenomenon of migration appearing in a society? On the other hand, the phenomenon of migration, too, affects other phenomena and processes. As a result of migration, many social problems emerge, particularly in cities and interaction processes such as adaptation, cooperation and conflict take place. The problems created or greatly affected by migration give shape to cities in particular and all social structure in general (Erjem, 2009: 10). As Akan and Arslan emphasize as well, the phenomenon of migration is a basic means of change influencing life at all points from economic perspective to culture being a social movement in it essence, though (2008: 3). In other words, migration is not only the relocation of people on a site but it is also a phenomenon closely associated with many elements of social structure. 3. Internal Migrations Many classifications are made for migration, which is dynamic and has a siginificant place in communities’ life. 72 International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 5, No. 3; March 2015 In these classifications, criteria such as whether individual’s/group’s own intention or an external enforcement is effective in occurrence of the migration, whether the direction of migration is in the border of the country or across the border and the duration of residence are foregrounded. In this study, one of the migration types, internal migration and a kind of internal migration, the one from rural areas to the city will be focused in particular. Migration is a human movement taking place towards or outwards a region. The movement or migration towards a region can be defined as internal migration. All the nations experience internal migration, that is, the movement from borders of a region to another (Macionis, 2012: 569-570). According to Marshall,